Brandon Valley senior composes music for One-Act Play
BRANDON, S.D. (KELO) —Brandon Valley High School is putting on a rendition of Macbeth, one that the director wanted to add music to. Instead of outsourcing that job, they gave it to a high school senior– Isaac Fode.
'So I made the 4 (songs) first and then I made some interludes and like some transitions and some singing backgrounds,' Isaac Fode, composer for Macbeth said.
Quadruplet bull calves born on South Dakota ranch
However, adding music to a Shakespearian play is not an easy task.
'He was not familiar at all with Macbeth, and he had to do a lot of research to figure out even what the story was and where the songs might go and what he might be writing,' Isaac's mom, Rachael Fode said.
'My aunt over at Lincoln High School, she teaches Macbeth at a college level. So a lot of late nights are like 10:00 and be like, hey, I have a question for you,' Isaac said.
Those late nights paid off. However, it wasn't easy being both the composer and the lead in the play.
'Watching him like, make the music and then having to go do his own part. Not only was he trying to get his own character down, he was trying to add dimension to other characters as well,' Lady Macbeth, Zariah Sittig said.
At the end of the day, it was all worth it.
'You hear it live for the first time, like the three witches, they have a really cool song together with like some really cool harmonies. I'm really bad at singing their part, so hearing them for the first time, and especially helping them learn that part was like actually really, really cool,' Isaac said.
Isaac says he had a lot of help from his friends while working on the songs.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
A Minneapolis theater that laughed at the curse of 'Macbeth' postpones production
A Minneapolis theater that laughed at the curse of 'Macbeth' postpones production originally appeared on Bring Me The News. "Break a leg," but never "good luck." The theater is full of superstitions, and, outside of that familiar phrase, the most well-known may be the curse of Shakespeare's "Macbeth." The Rough Magic Performance Company laughed in the face of the curse. Now, it's paying the price. Or maybe a simple coincidence has collided with a centuries-old superstition. Either way, the company's all-female "The Macbeths" was scheduled to open on Friday the 13th — another joke about the supposed curse — but the production has been postponed after an actor had to step away for personal reasons. "We were fearless, and we should have respected theater superstitions," Rough Magic Co-Artistic Director Catherine Justice says. "We've been working on this production for a long time, through different iterations, and we had setbacks along the way," she says. "We joked, 'It's not cursed. It's not cursed. We're fine.'" The company continued to joke about the curse even after the director for a workshop got COVID the day rehearsals were supposed to start. They joked when the first rehearsal, sans director, was canceled because the stage manager got food poisoning. Now, having to postpone the production to the fall, their tone has changed. "It really felt like maybe if we had respected those theater superstitions a little bit more, perhaps things might've been different. I don't know," Justice says with a laugh. "Macbeth" productions have trafficked in mishaps from day one. In its first production, in 1606, the actor playing Lady Macbeth died suddenly, and Shakespeare reputedly had to play the part himself, according to the Royal Shakespeare Company. The RSC also tells stories of a real dagger being used instead of a prop, resulting in the death of an actor; a falling stage weight narrowly missing Laurence Olivier in 1937; and the Astor Place Riot of 1849, when a rivalry between two actors playing Macbeth in separate productions escalated into chaos, resulting in at least 20 deaths. Now, the play comes with a script and a litany of superstitions, including that the name of the play must never be said inside the theater outside of a performance. It is instead referred to as "The Scottish Play." Should an actor say "Macbeth," a ritual is performed to remove the curse. That includes leaving the building, spinning in circles, spitting, cursing, and knocking on the theater door to be let back in. "I am definitely referring to it as 'The Scottish Play' from now on," Justice says. While the play will happen at a later date, the postponement is a "devastating" blow to the small company, which will lose the fees it paid to rent the theater. "We always raise all of the money for our production ahead of time so that any ticket sales seed our next show," Justice says, noting that the company's model has helped ease the blow in this situation. "We're never in a position where we might not be able to pay someone for the work that they've done." While "The Macbeths" is on hold, the space has been rented, and Rough Magic is making the best of the situation. On Friday, it will hold "A Cursed Conversation and Celebration" at the Center for Performing Arts in Minneapolis, an event that will have food, a panel discussion about the play, a DJ, dancing, and some group attempts to break the curse. No dates have been announced for when "The Macbeths" will finally arrive, but the company is hopeful it will hit the stage in November. Though rehearsals will look a little different this time. "We're definitely going to call it 'The Scottish Play,' and I think there will be a lot of spinning and spitting and cursing moving forward," Justice says. "At this point, any superstition that anyone brings into the space, we are going to respect it."This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
‘Hurlyburly' at KNOW Theatre
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – A show that explores the drug-fueled chaos of 1980s Hollywood culture is coming to KNOW Theatre this weekend. Hurlyburly by David Rabe is opening at KNOW Theatre on Friday. Drawing its name from Shakespeare's tumultuous tragedy Macbeth, Hurlyburly follows a group of lesser-known celebrities as they attempt to find meaning in their dishonest, futile lives. The show focuses on themes of self-destruction, toxic masculinity, substance use, and the search for meaning in the mundane. Vito Longo portrays Eddie, an insecure, morally corrupt Hollywood casting director. Longo says going to see good theatre is like going to the gym for your empathy. 'It's going to be hard for audiences to sympathize with these guys because their behavior is so destructive, but ultimately I hope audiences leave with a perspective of a deeper understanding for people that may be abrasive in their everyday lives,' said Longo. Hurlyburly opens Friday and will run for three weeks, ending on June 29. Show times are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $28 for general admission, $23 for seniors, and $15 for students. There will also be a pay-what-you-can performance on Thursday, June 19. More information at Pizza Week 2025: Mario's Pizza in Owego 'Hurlyburly' at KNOW Theatre Demolition of IBM Old Building Group nears completion Van Cott Jewelers announces official closing date Hanagan's Heroes monument to be relocated to Southside Veterans Park Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Brandon Scott Jones on CBS' ‘Ghosts': ‘I enjoy playing characters that are desperate'
Surprise! CBS' Ghosts is quite a revolutionary endeavor, especially for a sitcom on a broadcast network. A big part of that is thanks to costar Brandon Scott Jones, who plays the ephemeral, late Isaac Higgintoot — a soldier who fought on the side of the American Continental Congress in the Revolutionary War. Now, Isaac wasn't a big fan of war — he preferred surrendering post-battle — and actually met his end not by a barrage of buckshot, but due to dysentery. Still, Isaac isn't only revolutionary thanks to his character: He's possibly one of the first American military men to adhere to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of being gay in the U.S. armed forces. More from GoldDerby Critics hail Celine Song's 'Materialists' as an 'exquisitely made' modern love story - not a 'glossy romantic comedy' Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro reunite, tease 'Meet the Parents 4' 'Heartwarming' yet 'bloated': Film critics are mixed on 'How to Train Your Dragon' live-action remake "In his brain he was so jazzed to be at the beginning of America, and he's not even realizing that some of the stuff he's doing is working against who he is as a person," Jones tells Gold Derby (watch the full interview above). "There's something subversive about that." Like the other ghosts who populate the New York manor in the series (which was recently renewed for a fifth and sixth season) Isaac has some issues to work through before he can finish the death process. But he has a habit of getting in his own way — like when at the end of Season 3 he left the dear, departed redcoat he loved, Nigel (John Hartman), at the altar. "I enjoy playing characters that are desperate, and he is a desperate man who wants to be liked, he wants to be remembered, he wants all these things, and he's trapped in this world where he has to live with his legacy," says Jones. But, he adds, "I think there's something fun about him wanting to be a better person. He's a very slow learner, but he's realizing that he has to make some adjustments and changes." That meant in Season 4 that he literally was in his lowest place – dragged under the dirt by ghostly Puritan Patience (Mary Holland). "He's slowly finding little moments and opportunities to be a good person," explains Jones. "And then he has all these trials and tribulations where he, like, freaks out because the stripper he's in love with dies on the property." The stripper, for context, is not Nigel! SEEDanielle Pinnock on playing Alberta in CBS' 'Ghosts,' representation, and what's next for the hit comedy There are other ways Ghosts pushes the envelope in revolutionary ways, particularly with some of its out there colloquialisms. Ghosts who complete their duties on earth and are taken away are said to be "sucked off," something that might not have made it onto broadcast TV in previous decades. The wording gets Jones chuckling. "Can you believe it?" he says. "We get 'jerked off,' we get 'sucked off,' we get 'go down on us,' like, that's the stuff. It's wild what they can get away with! How lucky are we that we get to do it?" But perhaps the thing that Jones finds most original about the series is that thanks to his character and Nigel's, there's finally a bit of American history being shared in a broadly-watched TV series. "What do we as a collective people recognize to be true about that time period?" Jones asks. "Where does the Revolutionary War stand in pop culture and the Zeitgeist? As I've been playing the part, I've slowly been learning more and more [about history], which has been really fun." While Isaac may be Jones' longest-played character, he's far from the Maryland-born actor's first role. Jones performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade and co-wrote and starred in the 2022 film Senior Year. Audiences may also recognize him from his roles in The Good Place and The Other Two, and he's often cast as snooty, snarky, sassy — or all three. "I'm always interested in playing more that side of things," he says. "It's a fun way to access that part of me that … exists. We all have a little clap-back in ourselves, right? You get to have catharsis on camera and get paid for it." Meanwhile, Jones is working on several non-Ghosts projects that he can't talk about just yet — but he does have one new major element of his life he's happy to discuss: He's now a homeowner. And he's stressed out about it. "Oh, my God, I'm so nervous to become an adult," he says. "I still feel like Kevin McAllister [from Home Alone] every time I go to the grocery store? I'm like, 'What am I doing?' … 'God, these plants!'" Just wait until he finds out whether his new home has any ghosts. Best of GoldDerby 'She's got tunnel vision': Wendi McLendon-Covey reveals what she loves most about her character Joyce on 'St. Denis Medical' Marlon Wayans on laughing through tragedy in 'Good Grief' and why social media has made comedy 'toxic' Minha Kim 'confronted all new emotions that I had never anticipated' in Season 2 of 'Pachinko' Click here to read the full article.
